The Center Presents Chance Theater's THE WHO'S TOMMY, Tix On Sale 8/22

By: Aug. 17, 2010
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The Orange County Performing Arts Center presents the acclaimed Chance Theater production of The Who's Tommy from February 10 to 20 in Founders Hall as part its Off Center Series which includes eclectic and innovative performance work. The Orange County Register named the
show, "Among the most impressive Orange County productions of the year," and Performing Arts Live raved, "Boy, did Chance Theater ever nail that one!!" Stage Happenings said, "The quality of the Chance Theater's production was so outstanding, it completely blew me away!" This engagement at the Center will star the same cast and feature the same sets and costumes that made the show such a major success on the Orange County theater scene this past summer.

Performances will be Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 1 and 6:30 p.m.

All tickets to Chance Theater's production of The Who's Tommy are $35 and go on sale August 22.

They will be available at OCPAC.org, at the Center's Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling 714.556.2787.

For inquiries about group ticket discounts for 15 or more, call the Group Services office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746. Chance Theater's production of The Who's Tommy opened on July 2 in the company's Anaheim Hills home venue. It was an instant success, became the buzz of the local theater scene and extended its run.

Center President Terry Dwyer said, "One of the Center's goals is to enhance the eclecticism of the work we produce while growing and diversifying our audiences. When I saw Tommy at the Chance Theater, I knew that it was exactly the type of project we wanted to produce, and I was thrilled when Oanh Nguyen and the Chance agreed to extend the run of their acclaimed production at the Center. We are excited about the opportunity to support the Chance Theater, an organization important to the cultural life of Orange County, and to share their thrilling work with our audiences. We hope that new community collaborations such as this can bring new people to the Center and help create an atmosphere that benefits audiences and the artistic community throughout the area."

"We're very excited to be partnering with the Orange County Performing Arts Center to remount our highly popular and critically-acclaimed production of The Who's Tommy," said Managing Director Casey Long.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for the Chance to share our artistic aesthetic with a wider audience base, while simultaneously creating a stronger relationship with another major arts organization in Orange County. We're grateful to the Center for the opportunity, and our company is looking forward to blowing the roof off Founders Hall."

Based on The Who's classic 1969 double album rock opera about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who
becomes the leader of a messianic movement, The Who's Tommy tells the dramatic story of a young boy's journey to manhood through the muted pain of catatonia after witnessing the murder of his mother's lover by his father. Tommy finds his calling as a pinball champion who becomes idolized by the public and the press, but his celebrity machine eventually begins to fall apart.

The musical, which originated at the La Jolla Playhouse in 1992 before playing on Broadway for more than two years, is packed with memorable songs penned by The Who's founder and guitarist, Pete Townsend, including "I'm Free" and "Pinball Wizard." The Who's Tommy won five Tony® Awards, including Best Score for Townsend's iconic music. 

Chance Theater Recently nominated for six Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards and six Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards (including Best Season), and named "Outstanding Arts Organization" for the second time in five years by Arts Orange County, the Chance is proud to be one of the leading ensemble based theater companies in Southern California. Voted "Best Theater Group" by MyFoxLA for two years in a row and "Best Small Theater" by Orange Coast Magazine, the Chance is a recipient of the 2007 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's (LADCC) Polly Warfield Award for Excellence. Founded in 1999, the Chance Theater's mission has always been to intimately present personally meaningful, uniquely engaging stories that promote dialogue within our community and provide a visceral experience for theatergoers. As a constituent member of Theater Communications Group (TCG), Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET), and the Los Angeles Stage Alliance (LASA), the Chance continues to bring national attention to the
Southern California and Orange County theater scene through its recent achievements, which includes a 2006 GLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding Los Angeles Theater. 

Orange County Performing Arts Center The Orange County Performing Arts Center presents a wide variety of the most significant national and international productions of music, dance and theater to the people of Southern California. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages and offering unsurpassed experiences, engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and an array of inspiring programs.

As Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization, the Center owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, and the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center's studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. These state-of-the-art facilities are united by a community arts plaza.

The Center's Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and community plaza, along with facilities of the adjacent Tony® Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the new home of the Orange County Museum of Art, are located at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center presents a broad range of programming each season for
audiences of all ages from throughout Orange County, and beyond, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events.

It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach hundreds of thousands of students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.
The Orange County Performing Arts Center is proud to serve as the artistic home to the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale.
For more information, visit OCPAC.org. The Center can also be found online at Blogger, YouTube,
Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Flickr.



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